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Wing walks - a (better?) idea

gossend

Well Known Member
There are two problems with the original wing walks: They're too small for my big feet and, the rivets wear through the black anti-skid material (unevenly and ugly-ly) There's a long thread about this by Bob Noffs in here somewhere, where flush rivets are discussed. Too much work! :)

So I addressed both issues as thus.
1. Wear-thru. I cut the anti-skid stuff into strips to fill in between the rivet rows. Made nice rounded corners, so they look and work great. It's been that way for three years and 400 or so hours with no visible wear or peeling at the edges. I suspect that's partly because the rivet heads take much of the abuse, while the anti-skid anti-skids!
2. Size. I ordered extra wing walk skins from Vans and trimmed them to butt against the originals, roughly doubling the useable area. Now I dont have to worry about passengers with big shoes...and I can sit my lard-..s comfortably on the walk while I'm working on the panel or just fidlin' with the Garmin, without "oil-canning" the wing skin.

Note in the picture the rivet pattern looks like there are supporting half ribs under the added skins, but there are none, of course, since I made this mod after the wings were complete and flying....and dented badly by an enthusiastic but clumsy passenger.
The unsupported double-skins are super strong and support my 200+ lbs easily.
Note also I trimmed the new skins at the rear so as to avoid drilling into the spar caps!

Just an idea....works for me :)

http://tinypic.com/r/eu58nk/9
http://tinypic.com/m/k9x5c2/1
 
Sure, With all that EAB extra horsepower you don't care about the added weight of the doublers......

Single wing-walk skin sheet? Yeah probably not.

Seems like a reasonable design to me. I wish I would have thought about patterning the grip material like that when were were replacing the skins on our PA-28, I like the way that looks.
 
You can order real good wing walk from a/s and they will cut it to size. Been using the whole doubled area for years with it. Still looks like new, no wear and no seam.
 
Rather than ruin the looks of my plane, I carry a piece of Non-Skid Rug Pad from Wal-Mart. I carry two, actually, because I've been known to taxi out without retrieving the pad.
 
i like the rug idea..

how does wingwalk (the sticky pads from Vans or the wingwalk paint) affect the laminar airflow over the wing? does the fact that the wingwalk being located close to the leading edge in the -12 have more of a pronounced effect? if frost is bad, winkwalk should be bad too..?

obviously its use is widespread and acceptable.. but in the fuselage entry/exit videos I've seen posted here in the forum, it seems I only really need one footprint size patch of wingwalk on the -12..
 
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Rather than ruin the looks of my plane, I carry a piece of Non-Skid Rug Pad from Wal-Mart. I carry two, actually, because I've been known to taxi out without retrieving the pad.

Even better is a yoga mat. It's non-slip on both sides and 1/4" thick, so more substantial than rug pad. Cuts easily with scissors. I used that for years before I painted on wing walks made from clear coat with Clear Grip added.

I masked off the area for the wing walk and rolled on polyurethane clear with a foam roller and then used a restaurant salt shaker to carefully sprinkle on the Clear Grip. Works well and you can hardly see it.
 
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